The Project Manager's Guide to Mastering Agile, 2nd Edition

10Learning to See the Big Picture

AN AGILE PROJECT MANAGER NEEDS TO UNDERSTAND Agile at a deeper level in order to apply it to different situations effectively. The key to that is to develop a “Systems Thinking” approach to understand Agile principles and practices at a deeper level. In order to develop that kind of systems thinking approach, it is also valuable to understand the roots of Agile and how Agile thinking evolved. The roots of Agile will be discussed in Chapter 11.

SYSTEMS THINKING

What Is Systems Thinking?

BusinessDictionary.com defines systems thinking as follows:

Practice of thinking that takes a holistic view of complex events or phenomenon, seemingly caused by myriad of isolated, independent, and usually unpredictable factors or forces. Systems Thinking views all events and phenomenon as “wholes” interacting according to systems principles in a few basic patterns called systems archetypes. These patterns underlie vastly different events and phenomenon such as diminishing returns from efforts, spread of contagious diseases, and fulfillment in personal relationships.

Systems Thinking stands in contrast to the analytic or mechanistic thinking that all phenomenon can be understood by reducing them to their ultimate elements. It recognizes that systems (“organized wholes”) ranging from soap bubbles to galaxies, and ant colonies to nations, can be better understood only when their wholeness (identity and structural integrity) is maintained, thus permitting ...